Instagram Celeb Reveals the Ugly Reality Behind Her Social Media Presence

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Essena O'Neill, an 18-year-old from Australia, was a regular teen who amassed half a million followers on Instagram (on top of 200,000 followers on YouTube and Tumblr and 60,000 on her Snapchat, all now inactive) with selfies, outfit posts, and #fitspo photos.

After building that up, she decided that she was done with social media. She deleted 2000 photos, renamed her account to "Social Media Is Not Real Life," and changed the captions on existing photos with truthful anecdotes about posts she was paid for, how many tries it took to get the shot, and the pressures she felt to look perfect.

You can follow her progress and new direction at www.letsbegamechangers.com/videos

There has been backlash from her movement with some calling her fake and others shocked when she asked for money in a recent video.

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